The Flying Emporium

“What are you so excited about? Not like it would help you beat me if I can also use it myself!” The youth taunted his training partner.

“Tzz. We’ll see about that. The way my damage scales…" Just as Miriam was about to retort, though, she was rudely interrupted.

“Get going already! Or at least get out of the way and let me do it myself!” Xander all but screamed at the two bickering people who were standing in front of the combinator.

“I’ll do it!” In the end, Timothy decided he would be the first to lay his hands on the newest item creation. He had long thrown the required amount of coin onto the counter to purchase one each of the new elixirs. Just as he was struggling to insert the additional amount of coins needed to activate the combinator into the slot, Andreas finally sprung into action as well and started moving. He had already gotten a good idea about the new product just by listening in and therefore headed straight towards the far-left corner to join the others, without first stopping in front of the shelves to check out the actual products. He arrived just in time to lay his eyes on the newly created product.

[Small Stat Elixir – Hybrid (5)

Temporarily increases the user’s stats by 7%.

Only one Elixir can be active at a time.

Lasts for 60 minutes.]

Given the two combined base products, the end result lay very well within everyone’s expectations. Considering that the effect of one of the potions already grants four percent to the user’s stats, the additional gain of three percent might even seem negligible and not actually worth the extra price.

Compared to the cost of one hundred gold coins for just one of the hexagonal-shaped bottles, one would have to pay three times that amount for an additional benefit of just three-quarters of that of the original product. Which, at a first glance, seemed like a bad deal. At least to the uninitiated.

The four adventurers didn’t feel that way.

After all, basically, every adventurer, or just classbearers in general, would be willing to spend multiple times that amount for even just an increase of a single percentage point. To a single stat.

The buff just being temporary didn’t change that.

Amidst the ensuing joyful screaming, Andreas shamelessly reminded everyone of his five extra charges.

Severin went to take a spot next to the wooden counter and leaned against it to observe the spectacle.

He was still on the customer’s side, though, as the way around it was blocked by the rabid group.

Having expected nothing less of a reaction, he faced the situation rather nonplussed, just revealing a pleased but absent-minded grin, as he mainly thought about moving the combinator somewhere else.

Emily however couldn’t accept the situation in front of her nearly as easily. This kind of behavior didn’t conform to her own experiences and the picture she had of adventurers. At least not of the successful kind. How could something she was easily able to craft out of some random herbs and minerals be able to cause such a stir? Weren’t those people who risked their lives on a daily basis? How could they be so easily impressed, going so far as to embarrass themselves with silly dancing and shouting?

Only when Severin referred the group around Andreas towards her, did she finally snap out of it.

“Bring us more of these elixirs! And get us some potions as well, will you?”

“Not just potions! Also, the weapon oils!” Miriam quickly figured out Andreas’s intentions and added some more items to the list. “Or does any one of you still have some left? I’ve already used all of mine, back then.”

“Right. Just bring us a few of everything!”

“Please.” That last word was actually added by Xander.

The girl didn’t immediately start to act. Only after making eye contact with Severin, who then gave her an encouraging nod, did she start to move from her spot in the doorway.

It took her multiple times going back and forth to deliver all the requested items. That being said, she didn’t need to hurry quite as much as she did; Because once Emily brought over the first batch of items, the group quickly turned to experiment with other possible item combinations and took their time to discuss the respective results in great detail.

Like this, time quickly flew by for the group of adventurers. Even though there weren’t too many possible combinations to try out, quite a bit of time passed.

Their findings could be summarized rather quickly, though.

Besides the initial combination of both types of stat elixirs, which was fated to quickly become an integral part of their standard equipment, there were two other types of resulting items.

First was the combination with any kind of potion. The result was rather disappointing. A first for any kind of product coming out of Severin’s store.

It was basically just the effect of both the used potion, as well as the used elixir, simply stuck together. The effectiveness of either half was still at their original level, but the stat enhancing part was still restricted by the ‘only one active at a time’-clause. It just wasn’t worth it. The only real advantage the resulting product had going for it was its consistency, which was that of a jello cube; Just like the potion. That meant it would be slightly easier to rebuff oneself in an ongoing battle, as one didn’t have to deal with the small bottle. Still, that factor was rather negligible in their eyes.

Then there was the other type of product. Namely, the combination of elixir and weapon oil. And this time, the results were anything but disappointing, causing another round of screaming and jumping.

On one hand, there was obviously still the weapon-oil-affected part of the product, which meant a twenty-five percent damage conversion of the chosen element. And then there was the interesting part.

The still rather viscous liquid, which still had to be applied onto one's weapon, would now also apply a debuff on the hit enemy, reducing the target’s stats. Even with the specified limit of just one such debuff per target, the implications were obviously enormous.

The joy was comparatively short-lived, though.

They were animatedly discussing the strength of the items as well as various of their use-cases; Such as enchanting a crappy weapon to use for just a single hit, to apply the debuff, before switching back to the real ones for the remainder of the fight; Or until the debuff had run out.

But suddenly, Lynn came hasting inside the shop.

Both Severin and Emily had already seen her approach on their minimaps and greeted her the moment she entered the store, causing everyone else to turn around. Xander’s first impulse was to open his mouth and to share the good news about finding another unheard-of, overpowered item. Seeing the healer’s scowling, though, he stopped before even making a single sound.

The officer also noticed her grave expression.

Seeing that she had the latter’s attention, Lynn didn’t wait for him to ask.

“Someone is approaching. Just a single ship. But…well. Guess some White Squall guys followed us.”